Vario-Elmarit-R
35-70mm f/2.8 ASPH

The Vario-Elmarit-R 35-70mm f/2.8
ASPH is a high performance lens with a constant high speed of
f/2.8 throughout the entire focal length range. The heart of
this "highlight" is a polished optical system in connection
with a new type of precision mechanics. The lens consists of
eleven lens elements in nine groups. Five of these elements are
made of glass with high anomalous partial dispersion (for color
error correction) and four elements are of glass with an extremely
high refraction index. Additionally, the lens has a Leica precision-ground
and polished aspherical element against distortion. All lens
surfaces have an antireflex coating so that reflections and stray
light can be reduced as much as possible.

Its Leica catalog number is 11275.
This lens has only been available for a very short period (December
1999 till mid-2000) with customer queus of more than one year.
Production has been stopped since it has proven too time-consuming
to manufacture this lens within the extremely small tolerances
(given the high share of manual labor involved). This lens has
already become a collectible and demands a high premium since
only about 500 samples have been made before production was stopped.
If you can find one second-hand, don't hesitate !

Already at open aperture, the
Vario-Elmarit-R 35-70mm f/2.8 ASPH shows high image performance
over the entire field and throughout the complete focal length
range. Contrast and resolution can be improved just slightly
by stopping down to f/4.0. Rest image errors are hardly existent.
In the tele range (70mm) the image performance nearly measures
up to an apochromatic corrected system. Throughout the entire
setting range, distortion and vignetting are slight.